


What You Missed

by LadyLarkFrand



Series: Tease [5]
Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: Bondage, Chocobros - Freeform, Comfortable Polyamory, Dom!Noct, Established Relationship, M/M, OT4, Sub!Gladio, Tags to be added, established D/s relationship
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-09-25
Updated: 2017-09-24
Packaged: 2018-12-26 10:19:46
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,611
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12056952
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LadyLarkFrand/pseuds/LadyLarkFrand
Summary: Every action has a consequence. Knowing that doesn't make it any easier to face said consequences.





	What You Missed

**Author's Note:**

> An obligatory 'post Episode Gladio' fic -shrugs- I'm a responsible adult and no one can stop me. I wasn't sure I was gonna post this, but fuck it, my birthday is this week so happy early birthday to me.

The levity in the air didn’t feel quite real, as if there was an undercurrent as tense and taught before a storm broke loose over the plains of Duscae. Gladio wasn’t sure when that feeling had started, and he didn’t try all that hard to think about, either. If he had, he might not have gone, might not have done what he had to. Gladio had known there’d be consequences, on a myriad of levels when he came back. 

Gladio had still gone though. Sometimes there were things that needed to be done, and then there were things that _had_ to be done, and the consequences forgotten until it was all over. Gladio had never shied away from the consequences of his actions before, so he hadn’t _then_ either.

The price he was to pay, he still didn’t know but something in the pit of his gut told him that he’d find out sooner rather than later. For the moment, the four of them meandered down streets as the sun set lazily in an odd sort of harmony that felt as fragile as a bird’s wing. 

“ Dude, I’m telling you, seeing her work up close is just- wow!” Prompto chattered on, peering around Ignis to look at Gladio with a sort of gleam in his eyes that had Gladio wondering if the gunman had a _new_ crush. Right when they were all getting used to hear him going on about Cindy. 

“ Oh yeah?” Gladio asked as he cocked his head, to give the gunman a leering grin, “ Which part of her work, killing the baddies or stepping on Noct’s face?” 

Prompto barked a quick laugh, and slapped a hand over his mouth belatedly. Ignis rolled his eyes and neatly stepped from between the two to Prompto’s other side to walk. The ally-ways were barely wide enough for the four of them to walk abreast but they were making it work. 

“ Can’t it be both?” Prompto shot back, moving to fill in Ignis’ space as much as Gladio did, “ You’re lucky I took pics. “ he pointed out, jabbing Gladio in the arm with one finger. Gladio snorted and threw and arm over the younger man’s shoulders, yanking him against his side. He ignored the way it made his chest burn where he’d been laid open. 

“ Wish I’d been there to see it,” he noted with a sigh, as Prompto’s arm slipped around his waist, one finger slipping through the belt-loop of the pants in a lazy gesture.

It felt good again to walk with one of his lovers under his arm and against him. He’d missed it, even though it couldn’t have been more than two weeks he had been gone. It had felt like more. Every day he’d spent away, he’d become more distracted, and it was probably his saving grace that Cor had been there. The man had, on more than one occasion, saved his ass. 

“ Maybe if you hadn’t vanished for two weeks you would have.” Noctis snapped waspishly, cutting in before Prompto had a chance to reply. 

Prompto’s humor faded like a popped balloon, and Gladio levied Noctis a look of annoyance. He didn’t care if the Prince had an issue with Gladio’s own disappearing act, but as far as Gladio knew, Prompto hadn’t done anything to earn the ire of the other man. Even Ignis frowned softly, gaze flicking to the younger man. 

Noctis’ shoulders hunched just slightly, gaze locked on the ground. He didn’t offer an apology nor anything else. If anything, he walked just a little bit faster, as if he were trying to outpace them. Prompto’s features pinched, as if he were trying not to be hurt by someone’s actions and failing. 

Gladio squeezed him gently, as if the guy needed a reminder that Noctis’ shit attitude was unfounded as far as Prompto went. 

The Leville loomed around the corner as they entered the courtyard, and twilight had fallen far enough that the lights began turning on to chase away the dimness. It had been awhile since they’d stayed at the old, grand hotel. Since Jared’s death, Gladio figured, and tried not too hard to think about the old man that had been one-part butler, two-parts nanny, and one-part friend. It still made something in his chest knot up to think about it. 

That they’d been part of the reason that the man was dead and Talcott lost what was left of his family. At least the kid was tucked away safe and out of sight on the coast. Even if it meant abandoning him to Monica to look after. The woman had always been a fierce lady, never afraid of anything without reason. 

“ You guys got a room already?” he asked as they walked in, and Prompto hummed an affirmative, with a bob of his head. 

“ Mm, before we headed to the power-plant,” Ignis added, “ We had no way of knowing how long it might take. “ He levied Gladio a look that he didn’t have time to decipher before he pushed his glasses further up the bridge of his nose. 

Gladio had a sinking suspicion that Noctis wasn’t the only one put out with him for his disappearing act. Not that he could blame any of them, but that didn’t mean he didn’t set his jaw just so and ignore the look, for the moment. He had a feeling they’d deal with it later, anyway. 

Ignis unlocked the old wooden door, pushing it open and Gladio felt something in his chest ping a little in regret. Idly, he wondered how many places he’d ever go again without that feeling settling just behind his sternum. It got old fast, and it had lost its shine in Gladio’s eyes. 

The room they’d snagged, was the same damn suite. It rankled him that the workers of the hotel still ‘gifted’ them the same damn room they had the first time the royal party had arrived. Same small sitting area, same small kitchenette, same two beds that had only the colors of their coverings changed. 

Gladio made a mental note to say something to Ignis, or if not him than the hotel staff. 

The door closed behind them, Ignis slid the lock home with a soft click of metal against metal. 

Prompto settled into one of the chairs, working on the laces to one of his shoes, but his head tilted upwards to keep his gaze on Gladio. As if he’d just vanish again if he looked away for too long. “ You gonna tell us where you vanished to now?” he asked curiously. 

“ I too, would hear that story.” Ignis noted, even as he brushed by Gladio to get further into the room. 

Gladio frowned quietly, his gaze flicked between the three of them, but it was Noctis that his gaze stopped on. Noctis, who stared at him coolly, but didn’t comment on the ardent urging that had been coming from Prompto since they’d met up again. 

Instead he settled on the small love-seat, one arm over the back of it, his stronger, right leg thrown over the left. He looked, for all the world, unimpressed with his Shield’s reappearance and the other two’s infatuation with where he’d been. 

“ I’d rather hear about when he forgot how to answer his phone. “ 

The room went quiet and uneasy, as if no one was quite sure where the conversation would go. Prompto glanced between the two of them and worried his bottom lip between his teeth as if to cover his unease. 

“ Well, it’s one hell of a story,” Gladio started, “ but to make it short; they don’t make outlets to charge phones deep in the Tempering Grounds.” He’d known there’d be hell to pay as soon as his phone had blinked the empty battery on it’s screen and gone dark. 

Hell, he’d known there’d be hell to pay long before _that_. He’d known the moment he’d seen Noctis’ eyes go as hard as agate when he’d told him that he was leaving them to take the next dungeon on their own. He’d had to, there’d been no other way. If he had, he wouldn’t have been at the top of his game and if something had happened, well. 

Gladio would have never forgiven himself, it was literally that simple. 

“ The Temp-“ Prompto started, brows furrowed as he tried to place it, and Gladio knew the moment it clicked when he looked to Gladio with something like confusion and shock warring on his too-open face. 

“ What the hell were you doing there?” Noctis snapped, sitting all the straighter, eyes narrowed and Gladio wondered when the bags under the Prince’s eyes had gotten so prominent. Gladio crossed his arms over his chest and refused to bend. Not this time, not when his reasons were damn good. 

Gladio frowned right back at the Prince, “ Getting better at my job,” he growled back and the moment it left his mouth he knew it was the wrong-fucking-thing to say. Refused to take it back because he didn’t regret going, didn’t regret doing. 

“ Your job?” Noctis shot back, leaning forward, like he wanted to come out of the seat and meet him toe to toe but the energy just wasn’t there to take him the entire way to his feet, “ Oh, you mean the one where you’re supposed to have my back?” he asked, and Gladio clenched his hands into tight fists, tight enough it hurt. 

“ The one you abandoned to ‘get better’ at it?” Noctis pressed, voice raising in agitation, “ With no reason other than ‘ see you later?’ That job, Gladio? ‘Cause that’s a funny way to do it!” 

“ It had to be done!” Gladio snapped back, stepping forward towards the bristling Prince, temper as short as anyone’s as tired as they were, “ We risk our lives,” gestured towards Ignis and Prompto, “ keeping you alive! We’re gonna find something someday that’s going to kick our asses, and we have to be ready just in case you _aren’t_!” 

He realized distantly that he was almost yelling. Ignis looked ready to intervene and Prompto just plain uncomfortable as he stared at his interlocked hands and the ground. Gladio felt distantly guilt about that, in the same way someone might realize the sky is blue or the ground is hard. 

“ You think I don’t know that?” Noctis returned lowly, blue eyes hard and narrowed at him from across the room. 

It was on the tip of Gladio’s tongue to ask him if he did, if he really and truly did. His nails dug in painfully deep to his hands and he knew the indents left by them would clear against his hands. He hadn’t wanted a fight, hadn’t wanted to yell. Yet again though, what he wanted and what he did were very different things. 

“ You’re my Shield and I’m not dead,” Noctis continued tightly, as if he desperately didn’t want to say what was coming out of his mouth but seemed unable to stop it, “ We’ve kept each other alive out here, or hadn’t you noticed?” Gladio bit his tongue near to bleeding at that, as the thought summoned every wound and injury they’d sustained since then. “So what the _hell_ made you decide you were suddenly such shit at your job?” 

Gladio clenched his teeth and exhaled through his nose. Looked away because even with the Trial completed, even _with_ the approval of the first King’s Shield, it didn’t feel like enough. It wouldn’t until he could test himself properly. 

How bad would it be to just admit to the source of his anxiety, to admit that he’d laid awake at night thinking of how easily Ravus had shoved him aside, like he was nothing? How every time he closed his eyes, all he could see was the way the bastard could have had Noctis run through and not one of them could have stopped it? He couldn’t open his mouth, force himself to say it. 

“ You’re my Prince not my damn mother,” he growled out in turn, narrowing his eyes at the younger man, “ I don’t have to explain anything to you.”

It was the wrong thing to say. He could see it _that_ the moment that he said it. He couldn’t take it back though, not in the moment, not with his heart pounding in his throat so hard he could hear it. It wasn’t his place to have weakness, he reminded himself firmly. He was the rock to be anchored to, not the weight to drag them all down. 

“ Fine.” Noctis grit out, “don’t tell us anything. It’s not like we were worried, or thought maybe-“ 

“ Noct!” Prompto yelped, expression pinched in the manner that Gladio knew this wasn’t the first time whatever was coming out of the Prince’s mouth, was being said. 

“-you were-“

“ Noctis!” 

Ignis’ voice cracked out that time, sharp and forestalling, and Gladio felt his hackles raise when Noctis just plowed on with his statement, anger bright in his eyes. 

“-dead like everyone else we care about!”

Gladio stared at his Prince. Noctis stared back, and for a moment the Shield thought perhaps he could see a flash of pain in the younger man’s eyes that was so deep that Gladio had no hope in shoring it up anytime soon. Worse yet, he’d contributed to it, selfishly. 

Silence fell across the room. Awkward and stifling, like a noose around the neck waiting to tighten at the first wrong misstep. Gladio huffed and turned away, glared at the far side of the room and wished to all the Gods that guided their fate that this wasn’t how this had gone. He’d wanted nothing more than to be able to just- hell he didn’t even know. He didn’t know what he’d wanted. 

“ I do believe,” Ignis began slowly, gaze flicking between the two of them unreadably, “ that this conversation has rather run its course. Perhaps stepping away would be a wise idea.” 

Prompto nodded just behind the adviser’s shoulder, biting his lip anxiously ‘brows furrowed in ill-ease at the tension in the room. 

“ Fine,” Gladio bit out, “ I’m gonna get cleaned up.” 

No-one stopped him or objected when he turned to grab fresh clothes from his own bag, and stalked into the bathroom with it, away from the anger and frustration that lingered in the room behind. It was better this way, for the moment at least. Gladio resolutely ignored the way something in his chest ached as the door shut behind him firmly. 

It was fine. 

It was always fine, they didn’t have time to be anything _but_ fine.

The rest of the evening was subdued, and Gladio gladly let the exhaustion that made his limbs so heavy tug him into sleep that was far from dreamless.

***

The next morning was no better. Ignis made breakfast, which each of them seemed to hurry to finish before going about their day. Prompto split off with Noctis, telling him that perhaps they could get Viv to give them a few new assignments around Lestallum or what-not to do and earn some extra gil. Noctis didn’t exactly protest.

Gladio remained stonily silent through the day, and Ignis, did not push. Lunch passed. Then they slid into evening, which only then did either of the younger members of their retinue make their grand reappearance. The strained silence was telling as the too brittle smile on Prompto’s face.

It wasn’t until evening began to fall that even Gladio’s nerves and guilt nipped harsh enough at him to seek out the Prince. Part of him snarled that the brat was just as much to blame in their argument, but a larger part of him, the louder part, was so very _tired_. 

Tired of their fight, tired of the heavy, heart-hurt silence between them. He was tired of the way wary eyes of their other two lovers tracked between them nervously or sadly, as if they were bombs to go off sooner rather than later. 

It sat in his chest, heavier than any stone or wound he’d ever carried. Yet the desire to fix what had been cracked, did not lighten when he stepped onto the balcony outside of the room, into the humid evening air. 

If anything it got worse, and Gladio grit his teeth against it, determined to keep it and his tongue in check.

“ About earlier,” he began gruffly, and without realizing it himself, crossed his arms across his chest despite the way the sensitive skin there protested the movement and pull of muscle, “ that wasn’t how I wanted it to go.”

Noctis didn’t turn away from the balcony or the sight of Lestallum it over-looked, in the midst of twilight as the lights of the city began to turn on. Gladio wondered if it reminded Noctis of home, the way it did Gladio. It felt like a poor imitation, if not quite a mockery of Insomnia’s once grand night-life. 

“ S’fine,” Noctis intoned, “ we’re all used to you talking out of your ass on the best of days.” 

Something in the words stung, just a little. Frustration welled in the back of Gladio’s mind and he swallowed the immediate objection that came to his lips. He hadn’t worked up the nerve to walk out here just to pick yet another fight. 

Noctis’ head dipped just slightly, and Gladio didn’t miss the soft sigh of exasperation. 

“ Me too, though.” Noctis amended tiredly, “ About earlier, I mean. That’s not how I wanted it to go, either. I just..it wasn’t fair, how you just got to walk away like we were nothing.” 

Gladio grunted, and leaned against the doorway to the balcony. Part of him wanted to crowd the younger man, to seek affirmation and touch and reassure in turn. They were alive, he was alive, it was fine and good and all they could ever need, given all that had happened. 

Yet he didn’t move, stayed where he was. 

“ You guys aren’t ‘nothing’ to me,” he reminded quietly, “ you think I wanted to go? You think I enjoyed spending two weeks away from you three, knowing the kind of shit you and Prom just gallivant off into without thinking twice?” 

Noctis glanced over his shoulder, and Gladio glanced away. 

“ It wasn’t a cake-walk, and it sure as fuck wasn’t spur-of-the-moment.” He rolled it over in his head for more than a week. He’d circled the idea, and when it hadn’t gone away, he’d given in. 

“ Seemed easy enough,” Noctis argued softly, “ ‘You guys are gonna have to handle this one on your own’.” he reminded, the younger man flicked his hand in a dismissive gesture, “ and then off you went, like we’d be just fine.” 

Gladio ducked his head, and leaned against the wall harder, “ It wasn’t an easy decision. I had to trust you three to keep each other alive. I knew you guys would.” 

How many times had he replayed their fighting styles in their heads, reminding himself of their strengths, and how they linked so well together against enemies even when out-numbered. Countless times, he figured, and right on the heels of that he’d been able to picture nothing but their weaknesses. 

Places he’d normally have been to cover their weak-sides, their openings. He’d taken hours to fall asleep, every night. 

“ It wasn’t the same.” Noctis replied quietly, “ we were lucky to have Aranea there and even then it felt _wrong_. You’re our tank, not her, and you’re not replaceable, Gladio.” 

“ Tank, huh?” he asked and one corner of Noctis’ mouth lifted in a tired smirk. 

“ Take all the blows and come out wanting more, sound about right?” the Prince asked sarcastically, “ Almost like you enjoy it or something, you weirdo.” 

Gladio snorted tiredly and ran a hand through his hair, tugged at the long locks gently, “ Really know how to sweet-talk a guy, don’t you, Highness?” 

Noctis turned then to regard him, cobalt eyes narrowed just a little in contemplation before a slow and shallow smile lifted the corners of his mouth, and reached his eyes just a little. Just enough to make that knot that had settled just below Gladio’s chest loosen enough to where it felt like he might be able to breathe a little deeper than he had the past two weeks combined. 

“ We good?” Gladio asked, head cocked just slightly. Needed the verbal affirmation that all _was_ fine and peachy. That they could go about their day when the sun rose as if nothing had happened before hand. 

“ Tell me first,” Noctis replied, gaze darting from one part of Gladio’s face to another, as if he could just divine the answer he wanted from looking at him, “ why? Why the Trial? You’re my Shield already, no one’s contesting that.” There was a plaintive note in his voice, and suddenly the inches felt like miles between them. 

Again, a screaming denial rose to swallow the truth, desperate to hide such an ugly, impermissible answer away. What right did he have to set more weight on Noctis’ shoulders when it was heart-achingly clear just how much already the three of them weighed him down. 

Gladio looked away, unwilling to meet the other man’s eyes before he lied to him. Hands fisted in his shirt, in the sleeveless muscle-shirt he favored when he didn’t care to walk around completely shirtless. The knuckles on the hands were white with tension, with stress. 

“ Don’t do that,” the other man said sharply, “ if you’re gonna lie, don’t you dare do it like a coward.” 

Gladio looked back at him quickly, swallowed hard and met eyes that looked at him in a sad resignation. As if he knew the answer he’d get would be far and away from the truth and that he’d accept it to avoid another fight. 

Gladio clicked his tongue gently in annoyance. 

“ Always assuming the worst out of people aren’t you?” he asked, but didn’t pull away, even as he could feel his own heart beat just a little faster in his throat, in his chest. It was almost unbearable, as it had always been. 

Noctis looked at him keenly, a sharp little inhale betraying his surprise and attention, in a way that Gladio didn’t hear from him often. It seemed so difficult as of late to earn any sort of attention out of their Prince, be it good or bad. It was probably for the better. 

“ I got a taste of failure,” he admitted quietly, “ and I didn’t like it. I couldn’t stand it, the thought of it was like oil in my mouth.” He sighed tightly, lips pursed, “ It clung to everything, ruined it.” 

Noctis’ brows furrowed in quiet confusion, and Gladio tilted his head back slightly to look at the sky instead. Recalled the shame and sheer horror at the memory of regaining the Regalia. How badly he’d fucked up, just let himself get rusty and complacent in their little trip. 

“ Ravus.” He filled in the gap for the younger man, “ When he just _shoved_ me outta the way like it was nothin’ I-“ he broke off briefly, and clicked his tongue again and fought the wrongness of saying any of this aloud 

Noctis didn't respond immediately, though his hands did tighten in a manner that was telling. He remembered too, Gladio imagined, it was hard to forget. 

" You didn't fail, Gladio." Noctis muttered tiredly, and pressed his forehead against Gladio's chest with a sigh that fell somewhere between affection and regret, " you've never failed me." 

Gladio felt idly as if tearing his hair out just might be simpler than getting the Prince to understand that failure didn’t have to result in death for it to count as failure. That the fact that there had been an opening at all was enough to settle anxiety and frustration in his gut like a hot stone. 

" He should never have gotten that close," Gladio disagreed, " what if that freak of a Chancellor hadn't showed up? Where would we have been then, huh?" He squeezed his eyes closed briefly, against the idea, against the thought of what could have been. 

Noctis, Prince and lover alike, let out a quiet laugh and shook his head in what Gladio might have pegged as exasperation, which after all of this had been said and done, he was probably entitled to being as exasperated as he'd like. 

" You're such an idiot, " Noctis finally muttered against his shirt, " I can't believe you sometimes, to be honest." 

It was on the tip of Gladio's tongue to tell him that Noctis wasn't exactly an open book at the best of times no matter what he thought, and that maybe judging everyone else wasn't the best idea before opening his mouth to make a comment on it. 

Then, Noctis flattened his hands palm-down and slid them up until they could rest easily on Gladio's shoulders, and the younger man looked up at him with a murky sort of amusement lurking in his eyes. The look opened a door in his mind that was probably better off staying rather firmly shut, for awhile longer. 

" Do you think I'd have let him hurt any of you?" Noctis asked, voice pitched low and curiously, smug confidence curling around the edges, " Ravus lost his arm for what he did in Insomnia, that's the _only_ reason he knocked you away. " 

That wasn’t Noctis’ job, wasn’t his place. They were there for Noctis, and maybe he was just that fucking tired if what his lover was saying didn’t make any sense. Noctis didn’t falter, just rolled on as if it were all nothing but easy to say, " If he'd touched any of you with intent, I'd have killed him no matter what." It was the gentleness of his words, Gladio decided, that was decidedly odd. 

He could feel a growing pit of warmth resting like a dying coal in his navel, and he resisted the urge to lick his lips which suddenly felt dry and prone to cracking if he so much as opening his mouth to reply. 

" You mine, Gladio. All three of you are." Noctis noted, " and I’m tired to losing things, I’m not going to lose any of you for the sake of your pride.” 

Gladio had missed hearing that. That confirmation, that moment where it was clear that their Prince was just as invested in it as they were. Not that they ever doubted him but there were times when it was a niggling whisper in the back of the head. 

" I know that," he muttered, " we all know that." 

Noctis snorted and rolled his eyes, only for the sound of the balcony's sliding door opening to make both stop what they were doing and look towards the noise, perhaps a little more on high alert than what they ought to have been given that what they were doing was no more scandalous than talking. 

Talking closely, close enough that the warmth between them was shared rather than separate between them. 

" Are you two quite finished now?" Ignis asked, somewhere between relieved and perhaps amused. Gladio narrowed his eyes just slightly at the other man, lips quirking up on one side. A little relieved at the intervention of the sharp-eyed adviser. 

" Tch, maybe," Noctis replied petulantly, "What'd you want, Specs?" he asked, and made no move to step away from Gladio as though planning on picking back up whatever they were doing the moment that Ignis simply pulled his head back through the way of the sliding glass door. 

" Well," Ignis replied, perhaps too coolly to be trusted absolutely, " while your heart-to-hearts were rather relieving and endearing, I'm afraid there's a situation that might need to be addressed still in the bed." 

Noctis tilted his head curiously, raised one eye-brow. 

" Is there now?" he asked, before tilting his gaze back to Gladio and the first dark hints of lust in blue eyes were perhaps only slightly startling to see there, " Guess there's nothing to be done for it." he muttered and stepped away from the Shield.

Almost immediately Gladio missed the warmth of the younger man's proximity. 

Noctis looked over his shoulder, leveling a look at Gladio that surely fanned the flames of want in him, and never failed to spark them in the first-damned-place. 

" Coming? I don't think things are quite resolved, do you?" 

Gladio hummed quietly, before following him back in, shooting Ignis a look that perhaps could have stood to be a little more thankful, all things considered. The advisor merely raised an eyebrow at him before closing the door behind them as they meandered in yet again. 

What they walked in to see sprawled on the bed was unexpected to say the least. At least, Gladio hadn’t expected to see Prompto on the bed, hand down the front of his obnoxiously bright blue boxers and obviously working himself towards blowing his load. 

Prompto noticed them, and moaned softly in what might have been relief, if only briefly. 

"H-hey guys," he managed before teeth sunk into his bottom lip and his eyes fluttered briefly at the feeling of pleasure that rolled through him, rather obviously. " took you two long enough, share all of your man-pain?" 

Noctis snorted, with probably some kind of amusement as he wasted no time stripping out of the clothes he'd haphazardly slapped on earlier that day. " What, our arguing just turn you on that much?" he asked sarcastically, kneeling on the bed beside the gunman. 

He reached out to tug the bright blue boxers down, until Prompto's erection sprung free. Red and leaking already, even as Prompto gasped at the cool air reaching his heated dick. 

" Get this worked up over listening to me and Gladio talk?" Noctis scoffed, a pair of clever fingers running over the sensitive head, smearing pre-cum liberally from the leaking slit. Prompto moaned, hips twitching upward of the bed, needy and wanting.

"Nh- it c-certainly didn't- _fuck, Noct!_ \- help!" he managed, voice raising in octave, and Noctis smile only widened at the reaction he sparked from his touch. 

" Oh?" he hummed, " What else then, huh?

Prompto moaned, working the length of his aching dick in his hand, even as Noctis teased his most sensitive parts, but he didn't answer. Instead he bared his throat, head tossed back into the pillows behind him at the feeling, grunting low in his throat, eyes closed.

Noctis clicked his tongue in annoyance, and slipped his grip lower on Prompto’s dick, tightened almost painfully, but more importantly, stopped the wringing action that seemed to be Prompto's prime goal. Prompto whined in frustration, and blearily stared at the Prince who only stared back, and waited oh-so patiently. 

" I asked a question," he stated with the air of finality that never failed to get anyone's attention when it was posed at them, " you could at last pretend to have _some_ manners, Prom." 

Prompto groaned in frustration, to which Noctis was unmoved. 

" Don't look at me," he managed, " you know how Iggy's hands get when he’s frustrated?" he whined, hips twitching upward despite the tight grasp his dick was in, “Everywhere - fuckin’ c’mon Noct, like you’re one to talk about manners! Ah!”

Noctis snorted, a quiet bark of laughter breaking the tension of the room, " Okay, fair," he conceded, " Iggy is a tease.”

Ignis made a quiet and objecting noise in the back of his throat that had Noctis turning to regard him for, raising one eyebrow questioningly, " You denying it, Specs?" he asked curiously. 

Ignis shook his head briefly, and for the first time that evening Gladio realized that perhaps Ignis might not have been one in the mood for a round or two of 'we're-alive-thank-the-Gods' sex. Which might have been his intent if only Gladio and Noctis could be pushed to pulling their heads out of their asses. 

Pushing to correct proverbial buttons was something Ignis was rather good at, besides.

" Would that be something I would do, Highness?" he asked deceptively soft, and Gladio sighed quietly at the title that fell from the adviser's lips. Gods, but there was something about it that would never quite not start a smoldering pit of want in Gladio every-time it fell from one of his lover’s lips.

Noctis laughed huskily, shamelessly, "Yeah, actually," he replied, "you would." 

Ignis made a soft noise of amusement, even as he raked his gaze over the two younger men on the bed, and Gladio knew what he saw. One looking half-way to disheveled and the other far to dressed for what was to, more than likely, come next. 

" Caught in my own trap then." I'll endeavor to try harder at subtlety next time, shall I?" He asked dryly. 

Noctis barked out a quiet laugh, “ If you did that, Specs, I’m not sure any of us would catch on.” 

Prompto whined in frustration at the idea, and Gladio grunted in amusement, out of the truth of the statement. 

" Don't you dare," Prompto gasped, and made a noise better suited to a chocobo than a grown man when Noctis caught his other hand at the wrist when he made a go of grabbing his dick with his free hand,

" Come on Noct," Prompto whined, " you're killing me here!" 

“ You look pretty alive to me,” he teased, “ I don’t remember Ignis’ hand-jobs being _that_ exciting.” 

Even from Gladio’s position near the door he could see the way that Prompto flushed hard enough that even his ears went a little red. He glanced to Ignis, who for all in the world, looked as if he were merely observing a mildly interesting show. 

“ You went awfully red there Prom,” Noctis grinned, all teeth and no mercy, “ What’d he do to you while me and Gladio were talking?” 

“ It was a bit longer before that,” Ignis interjected, leveling the Prince a look from under sandy lashes, “ Prompto and I had a rather extended conversation in the shower.” 

Gladio raised an eyebrow at Ignis, who spared him only a dark glance that Gladio associated more with the depths of the night and the heat of the moment than standing in the middle of a hotel room with their favorite gunman on the bed, red faced and panting. 

“ You didn’t finish the job?” Noctis asked, and sounded more surprised than anything. 

Ignis sauntered over, a rolling sort of gait that never failed to catch Gladio’s eye, “ Well, I had all intent to do just that,” he admitted, as he settled at the head of the bed to card long fingers through Prompto’s still-damp hair, “ and then it occurred to me that perhaps, it would be an exquisite learning moment.” 

Gladio was not obvious to the flick of Noctis’ tongue over his lips before he spoke, “ What were you thinking, exactly?” He had twined his fingers with Prompto’s, locking them together and the hand wrapped around his friend’s cock moved slowly, in a miserably slow twist of his wrist. 

Gladio felt his own dick twitch in interest at the whimper that spilled out of Prompto, his own breath hitching as he watched the younger man’s face flex and shift with pleasure and needing want of more contact. 

“ A lesson in what happens when one of us is not where he ought be, and the consequences.” 

The words rolled off of Ignis’ tongue darkly, and though he spoke to Noctis, it was Gladio he stared at, a clear indication that while forgiveness was granted it wasn’t quite complete. His fingers tightened in Prompto’s hair, hard enough that the younger man yelped as his head was tugged harshly back, and held in place. 

Noctis’ sharp inhale of arousal was loud in the relative quiet of their room. Gladio could imagine the wicked gleam in dark eyes, and the way the Prince’s lips quirked sharp in pleased amusement, “ I like the sound of that,” he agreed, “ what about you Prom? You game for some fun?” 

Prompto moaned in response, “ Yes, fuck yes, and all of the above?” he agreed and Ignis low chuckle of amusement was in direct contrast to the harsh kiss he delivered as he dipped down to deliver. It was more teeth than tongue, nipping at the younger man’s lips and stealing soft moans of approval. 

It shouldn’t have been a surprise that Ignis maneuvered their gunman’s arms to where he held them above his head, and by time Prompto seemed to realize it, it was far too late to do much of anything about it. 

Noctis hummed in quiet approval and turned a lazy sort of consideration on Gladio, even if the smirk on the Prinice’s lips was far more telling. He crooked a finger at him, and Gladio was helpless to do anything but stumble forward a few steps, standing there, pulse pounding in his throat. 

Surprisingly gentle fingers traced the still-tender scar along his chest curiously. It was something none of them had quite done yet; touched him. Gladio shuddered just slightly, hands clenching and unclenching uncertain of what was expected of him immediately. 

“ How tender are you?” Noctis asked, tone serious despite the lust that lingered in his eyes, “ Tell the truth. “ 

The three words rang with a lazy sort of authority, that honestly characterized Noctis at times. 

“ Sex ain’t gonna put me outta commission, “ he replied, and Noctis regarded him with an inscrutable look as he pressed all the harder against the still raised-scar, “ my oath on that.” He added when the younger man didn’t seem to quite accept the truth at first. 

Noctis hummed, before he looked at Ignis over his shoulder with a flash of teeth in a smile, “ Hear that Specs? Someone thinks they’re getting laid.” 

Ignis hummed, and pulled away from his kiss, much to Prompto’s disappointment, “How arrogant,” he replied, “ Is there anything you require from me on such a matter, Highness?” 

Noctis shook his head after a moment of consideration, “ Nah, I think you’re good, Iggy.” 

Then his attention swung back to Gladio, regarded him slowly and heavily. He looked at Gladio as if he were a piece of livestock or a servant, instead of Shield and lover. It set excitement racing through him in a way that was way too telling and he probably should have been ashamed over. 

Finally, Noctis clicked his tongue in brief annoyance, and shifted enough to pull his belt out of the loops, and stared at him neutrally. A foot tapped against the top of his boots impatiently, and none too gently. 

“Take these off and turn around, hands behind your back.” 

It took Gladio far too long in his own mind to work the boots off, and to stand, hands behind his back and waiting as told. One wrist nestled in the crook of the opposite elbow and the other just below its opposite. Noctis wound the belt around both limbs just above the wrist, and around again. The leather bit into his skin just hard enough to hurt. 

Satisfied with his work, Noctis grunted, and yanked downwards on his bound arms. It made his shoulders protest, but he didn’t fight the silent order, dropping to his knees. His Prince hummed in approval, and pushed a few longer strands of hair out of Gladio’s face. 

“At least you didn’t forget _that_ ,” Noctis muttered bitterly, “ now let’s see if you remember this one: stay.” 

The smirk that split the Prince’s face was far from comforting, even as one hand trailed under his jaw and scraped short nails along his throat. There was an air to the whole thing that Gladio came to realize rather quickly. 

He was probably going to end the night with cum drying tacky in his pants, or hard as a rock, and he couldn’t fucking _wait_.

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you enjoyed. As always, comments and kudos are greatly appreciated!   
> always feel free to talk to me at https://www.tumblr.com/blog/lark-shaped-friend


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